- FL: Idiot pol files frivolous lawsuit vs. OpenAI
Source: NBC News
“Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday, accusing the company of putting profit over safety, fueling violence and pushing a product it knew could harm users. … The wide-ranging lawsuit accuses OpenAI of four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance. The suit claims that OpenAI’s systems present a ‘great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms’ to users.” (06/01/26)
- Hungary: Magyar threatens to amend constitution to oust president
Source: Politico
“Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Monday threatened to amend the country’s constitution to oust President Tamás Sulyok. Magyar said his government would attempt to use all available legal tools to remove Hungary’s head of state, an ally of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, and even change the country’s fundamental law to force his exit. ‘This process will take about a month, we are trying to adopt the necessary legislation as quickly as possible, and yes, there will be talk of removing all puppets,’ Magyar told reporters.” (06/01/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-peter-magyar-amend-constitution-oust-president-tamas-sulyok/
- IL: Politicians pass record tax-and-spend budget
Source: Fox 2 News
“Illinois lawmakers passed a nearly $56 billion state budget early Monday morning after the spring legislative session stretched several hours past its deadline. The $55.9 billion spending plan is the largest state budget in Illinois history. The House passed the budget just after 4 a.m. by a vote of 76 to 39. The plan now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, who said he plans to sign it. The budget includes more than $800 million in new tax revenue, including new taxes tied to digital advertising revenue, prediction markets, cryptocurrency and large social media companies. It also extends a cap on corporate operating losses, which is expected to generate about $300 million in state revenue.” (06/01/26)
https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/illinois-lawmakers-pass-record-56b-budget-with-new-taxes-spending/
- Nicaragua: Political prisoner dies
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Nicaraguan Indigenous leader and activist Brooklyn Rivera died from health complications after nearly three years in detention, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Last week, the Nicaraguan government’s confirmed that he had been detained since 2023. UN representatives, the US government and Rivera’s family have demanded proof that he was still alive. ‘We regret to confirm that he has sadly passed away,’ the health ministry said in a statement on state-run media outlets. … The 73-year-old was a renowned leader of the Miskito People and a former member of Nicaragua’s Congress. He was arrested in 2023 by the left-wing authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega on undisclosed charges.” (06/01/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/nicaragua-indigenous-leader-brooklyn-rivera-dies-in-detention/a-77369132
- MI: American Axle employees on strike, say wages have barely increased in 18 years
Source: WWMT News
“United Auto Workers (UAW) members are on strike as of Monday at midnight. Nearly 1,000 employees at Dauch Corporation, formerly American Axle, are walking out on the job after months of failed labor negotiations. United Auto Workers Local 2093 members say it’s been 18 years since they’ve been fairly paid, and they’re done making concessions. They’ve been negotiating a new contract with Dauch since March. The auto parts company’s a major axle supplier for General Motors, and its largest Michigan factory is in Three Rivers. UAW’s bargaining chairman Josh Jager says workers’ paychecks were cut in half during the Great Recession and have never fully recovered.” (06/01/26)
- French pirates steal tanker, Macron says
Source: NBC News
“The French Navy on Sunday boarded an oil tanker, named the Tagor, which was subject to international sanctions and sailing from Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X. ‘This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,’ he said. … The Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on Monday that the French Navy had intervened on an oil tanker more than 400 nautical miles west of the tip of Brittany, coming from Murmansk, Russia.” (06/01/26)
- Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools
Source: Politico
“Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honoring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank ‘the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy’ and argued that the Fed’s independence was a ‘priceless asset’ that must be protected. It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.” (05/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/31/jerome-powell-profile-courage-award-jfk-00943963
- Myanmar: Blast at building storing explosives kills 45
Source: Associated Press
“A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s [junta].” (05/31/26)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-deadly-explosion-5946c95f92ca91472fb30a57438234ec
- DoD not allowed to fix most of its own stuff. Guess who’s cashing in?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
- The Recipe for an Iran Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Changed
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-recipe-for-an-iran-nuclear-deal-hasnt-changed/
- Massie’s Detractors Still Pretend the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Exist
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jack Hunter“Yes, millions of dollars were poured into the Kentucky primary of Rep. Thomas Massie to defeat him by a collective entity that can fairly be referred to as the Israel lobby, and that lobby succeeded in its mission. Massie lost and that foreign interest group is the primary reason why. It’s a fact of history.” (06/01/26)
- Lists, Damn Lists, and Critical Correctness
Source: Quillette
by Dave Thompson“Love them or hate them, lists are now firmly established — along with cats and porn — among the apex predators of the modern internet.” (06/01/26)
- Israeli Claims About an Iran “Threat” Were Always a Lie. Now We Have Proof
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook“Could it be that Israel’s 30-year narrative about Iran – one that persuaded US President Donald Trump to wage a criminal and disastrous war of aggression – was always a fiction, an invention cooked up in Tel Aviv? Far from Tehran posing an existential danger to Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades, might Israel’s real fear be that a stronger Iran would undermine its unique leverage over Washington, threatening its status as the region’s sole – and unmonitored – nuclear power? Might large parts of the globe be facing economic meltdown simply so that Israel can remain the Middle East’s top dog – an unaccountable apartheid state committing genocide against the Palestinian people and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon? We got a definitive answer last week, care of the New York Times. It is an uncompromising yes to all of these questions.” (06/01/26)
- The Patient Anarchist
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg“Impatient anarchists are very often looking for someone to blame, for something to steal, or for some type of recognition. The world will someday leave rulers behind, but only once most people are ready for it, and that time must come organically, not by force. The necessary recognition and fortitude must grow into place.” (05/31/26)
- Questions for Abundance Liberals
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“Commenters on my previous posts argued that I was overestimating how much abundance liberals had in common with libertarians, that my view might be correct for a few of the most libertarian members of the faction but not for most of them and, in particular, not for Yglesias. My view was based partly on his Substack post, which endorsed Ilya Somin’s proposal that libertarians attempt ‘to build bridges with the abundance camp on the center-left,’ partly on a few relatively libertarian Democrats of my acquaintance. What does ‘build bridges with’ mean in this context? Libertarians have limited political power on the right, Abundance Democrats even less on the left. What I am imagining is not a political alliance but an intellectual one.” (05/31/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/questions-for-abundance-liberals
- The real Palantir scandal
Source: spiked
by Andrew Orloski“Palantir, a data-analytics and logistics company, poses a challenge for its critics. ‘We make public services better,’ it argues. ‘They become more efficient and productive with our technology. Which means the taxpayer’s pound is being better spent. What exactly is your problem with that?’ … The temptation to see Palantir as a force for good is strong. However, politicians are strangely reluctant to take a gift horse to the veterinary dentist before accepting it. There are costs to any relationship, and some of these are quite subtle.” (05/31/26)
- An Anarchist Defense of the Cuban Revolution
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“After nabbing Cuba from a collapsing Spanish Empire around the turn of the twentieth century, America reigned over that island for over fifty years, using a mix of fascist strongmen and direct military occupation. The last bastard we propped up there was a bloodthirsty thug named Fulgencio Batista who is believed to be responsible for as many as 20,000 deaths in less than a decade. None of which seemed to bother the opportunistic democracy enthusiasts back in Washington and Wall Street, not so long as Batista gave them free access to Cuba’s sugar, tobacco, and railroads that is. It was only after Fidel Castro kicked Batista out of Havana in 1959 and made it clear that Cuba’s resources no longer belonged to Yankee conquistadors that America began its long war for ‘democracy’ in Cuba and it was a war defined by what can only be described as craven acts of barely covert terrorism.” (05/31/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-anarchist-defense-of-cuban-revolution.html
- Detours and Missteps on the Road to Medical Advances
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz“My dad died suddenly in 1969 at age 42 from what was found on autopsy to be his third myocardial infarction. While he was known to have severe hypertension, based on the few times that he allowed his blood pressure to be taken, he was never treated; the irony being that while he wanted me to become a doctor, he never trusted them. His mom, who was known to have severe hypertension, may have been on a diuretic when she died suddenly in 1954 at age 56 from a hemorrhagic stroke. I will turn 75 in a few months, and while I have evidence of heart disease, I have no physical disability from it. I have no doubt that good blood pressure control has been an important factor in that outcome, as it has for millions upon millions of people over the past 30-40 years.” (05/31/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/detours-and-missteps-on-the-road-to-medical-advances/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/31/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Fires Hellfire Missile at Cargo Ship Near Iran, Boat Strikes Kill More Than 200 People, and More.” (05/31/26)
- Zooming In, 05/31/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts.” (05/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-disarray-of-protestant-churches
- Dangerous History Podcast, episode 287
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ Pt I.” (05/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/dangerous-history-podcast/dhp287/